The question
invariably arises: "Why did you choose that car to cross Africa in?" This
section will deal with answering that question. There are several things we have
to keep in mind when asking the above question. One of the most important is
that we will be crossing the African continent by car. That means we will spend
a great deal of time in the vehicle. In fact, of any activity on the trip,
travelling in the car will take up the lions share of the time. So, the vehicle
of choice must be comfortable, the equipment in it must be well organized, and
it must allow convenience in all daily activities. It must also be reliable and
easy to repair should something go wrong. There are portions of the trip where
the vehicle will be the lifeline for the passengers.

So, with these
tenants in mind, we broke down by category what the chosen vehicle should excel
in. In no particular order those categories are:

Payload capacity / space efficiency

Off-road ability / toughness

Availability of spare parts

Prior knowledge of the vehicle

Reliability / simplicity of repair

After market accessories

Fuel economy

Comfort

Price

Defenders, like this picture, are not perfect, but they do the job.

The reasoning
behind all of these points for overland travel are covered very well in three
books: Sahara Overland and Overlanders' Handbook by Chris Scott and The Vehicle Dependant Expedition Guide
by Tom Sheppard. I will not reiterate everything that these adroit
authors covered, but I will try to give the reasoning and logic behind the
choices that we made for our trip.

To start with, I
will cover why we did not choose some of the more obvious cars on the US auto
market. There are a great many sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks for
sale in the US right now, and it may seem strange to the layman why we did not
take the easy route and choose one of these. In general the problem with SUVs is
the huge amount of luxury items that they come stacked with. While luxury items
are nice for cruising the highway and commuting to work, they are very heavy and
take up precious payload capacity. In addition all SUVs on the market have a
substantial amount of electrical equipment tied into them including, but not
limited to, computers for controlling the engine. Should the engine computer
fail, the car becomes a paperweight that can only be repaired in a well-equipped
garage by people with the right, sophisticated equipment. Should that happen in
the middle of the Sahara miles from anywhere, with the likelihood that no cars
will pass for weeks, the implications are obvious. Pickup trucks have fewer
luxury appointments and higher payload capacity, but they are less convenient
for traveling in, and virtually all US brands are not imported into most of
Africa, so parts are hard to come by. In addition, most newer products also have
the same reliance on computers.

So, a few more
words on each of the above categories as we see them:

Payload capacity / space efficiency:

The amount of
equipment and fuel that you need to carry for a 6 month trans-Africa trip is
prodigious. We will have to carry everything we need to survive independently
for up to two weeks at a time. All food, water, fuel, clothing, living
accessories, spare parts, tools, navigation equipment, camera equipment,
medicine etc. etc. At this point I estimate that we will be carrying 2470 pounds
of kit in each car. Not only must the vehicle be able to carry the weight, but
also have sufficient interior room to organize it all neatly and efficiently.
Everything should be easily accessible and be tied down so it does not get
damaged on the miles and miles of rough, corrugated African roads.

Off-road ability / toughness:

This may seem
obvious, but any vehicle that is carrying close to its maximum payload will be
strained when put onto African roads. We will cover terrain from the soft, soft
sand of the Sahara to the mud pits of Central Africa that can swallow trucks
whole. We will need a vehicle that can carry everything we need it to through
some of the most punishing terrain in the world. We will not be doing any
extreme four wheeling, but we will be straining everything on the car to its
limit.

Availability of spare parts:

Our cars, whatever
we choose, will most certainly break down at some point in the trip. There are
recorded trans-Africa trips with no breakdowns, but these are mostly in Toyota
Land Cruiser BJ75s, which have never been imported into the USA. When we do
break, if we do not have parts with us, they will have to be purchased locally,
and so this plays a big role in vehicle choice.

Prior knowledge of the vehicle:

This always plays a
big role, not only in what we know how to fix, but also in our personal bias. I
would be lying if I didn't admit that I am heavily biased towards Land Rovers
because I really like them. But it is good to go with what you know, what you
have experience fixing, and what you feel comfortable driving. Having owned 2
Land Rovers, it becomes an obvious choice.

Reliability / simplicity of repair:

It's always nice to
know that spare parts are available on the same continent, and hopefully in the
same country that you are in, but often getting to them after a breakdown is the
challenge. Vehicles that are simple and easy to work on are key here. Modern gas
engines and even modern diesels that are dependant on computers and solid state
electrical components are not simple and are not easy to repair or even bodge
should the electronics break. For all their first world charm, electrical
gadgets do not fair well under the dust and vibration seen on African roads.
Also, simple mechanical system are superior; many newer automatic gearboxes
cannot shift out of park if the battery is low, whereas a manual can be put into
neutral and at least towed.

After market accessories:

No vehicle comes
from the factory fully equipped for an overland expedition. Luckily there are a
host of manufacturers that make equipment from roof racks to long range fuel
tanks for all makes and models of trucks. Care must be taken in buying
accessories that are built to last and take abuse and not just built for posing.
Most of the bull bars put on by vehicle manufactures are useless for busting
through the bush.

Fuel economy:

This is one of the
most important issues listed here. While fuel is available all over Africa, the
stints between filling stations are often very long and very grueling. In my
opinion, any vehicle attempting this trip should have a cruising range of at
least 800 miles. Others may advise differently, but it is hard to have too much
range. The problem then arises of carrying all the fuel needed to attain that
range. With a V8 gas engine a fully loaded truck may achieve 15 mpg on the
interstate, but on soft Saharan tracks or through mud this will drop to 5 to
8mpg. To get 800 miles out of that you will need 100 gallons of gas. That's 20
jerry cans and a very large portion of any vehicle's payload. Going with
diesel, you can cruise at 28mpg and may drop to around 18 under hard conditions.
This means 45 gallons of diesel, which is much more manageable than 100 gallons
of gasoline.

Comfort:

This cannot be
emphasized enough. A great deal of time will be spent in the car. Choose one
that is comfortable, or adapt it so that it is. You will be happier, more
relaxed and enjoy everything more if you are comfortable.

Price:

Obviously, the
cheaper the better! But in reality, you can often get what you are looking for
at a manageable price if you have patience and persistence. The vehicles we
wanted are not sold in the USA, so we have to have them built for us. Anything
is possible if you invent the way.

Having said all of
this, the US vehicle that would be most suited to the trip would be the older
Jeep Cherokee Sport. It is not overly laden with luxury items, has good payload
capacity, is fairly easy to repair, is very reliable with plenty of power and
has a host of aftermarket accessories that could be used. The main problem is
its cruising range. The Cherokee only came with a gas engine in the US.